This article will guide you through the process of setting up a Custom Product Catalogue Without An eCommerce Store.
If your business sells products but not via a traditional online eCommerce store, you can still collect reviews using a custom product catalogue. You'll still need to have your products listed on your website.
The process involves creating a spreadsheet containing your products which is imported into the REVIEWS.io system in order to send review invitations about those products.
Here's how to get it set up.
Requirements
Available on all REVIEWS.io plans
Navigation
Log in to your REVIEWS.io account
Navigate to Collection >> Product Catalogue.
Instructions
1: Create your Product Spreadsheet (.csv) in Google Docs
Log in to Google Docs (https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/) and create a new spreadsheet. You can name this however you like. We've called ours Reviews Product Feed.
Create 4 columns as follows:-
Product Name (How you want your product name to appear on Reviews.io)
Product ID / SKU (Your unique product identifier - each product should have a different one)
Product Image URL (The location on the internet of the product image)
Product Page URL (The location on the internet of the product page)
2: Create a shareable link in Google Docs
Click on the Share button in the top-right corner of your browser
In the popup, click Get link and change the sharing option to Anyone with the link
Click on Copy link
Check that the link has been copied to your clipboard
3: Convert shareable link into export link
For REVIEWS.io to make use of this spreadsheet, it needs to access Google's API. A small change is required to the Google Shareable Link to proceed.
Open Notepad/Wordpad/Textedit or any other text editor on your computer
Paste the Google Shareable Link. It will look similar to the below:-
Locate the part of the link which says /edit?usp=sharing (it will be at the end of the link)
Replace /edit?usp=sharing with /export?format=csv
The end of your link should now say /export?format=csv
Click Setup Product Feed
Add your new export link url into the CSV box and press Add
Your Google Sheets URL now appears in the field above. Click Configure.
Assign your spreadsheet columns to the appropriate values in the table by using the dropdown menus:-
Once configured, click Download to download your export file into the REVIEWS.io system
FAQ
How do I know if the link will work?
If you paste this new link in the browser, it should automatically download a .csv version of your file. If that's the case, then it is working. If not, you should check your work and try again.
Please refer to additional troubleshooting instructions present on the product feed setup page in your account located at https://dash.reviews.io/products/setup if you run into any issues. You can also speak to us on Live Chat for assistance, or just pick up the phone and call.